Cokjst-sheli



G. w. REID,

Corn Sheller.

. Patented May 3, 1853.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEO. W. REID, OF EVANSVILLE, INDIANA.

CORN-SHELLER.

Specication of Letters Patent No. 9,698, dated May 3, 1853.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, GEO. W. REID, of Evansville, in the county ofVanderburg and State of Indiana, have made new and useful Improvementsin Machinery for Shelling and ACleaning Corn.

My improvements consist in, 1st, the forming the feed hopper shellingconcave and separator in one connected and self adjustible piece; 2d,the peculiar construction of the screens for the separation of the cobsand other refuse.

The annexed drawing is a longitudinal sectionof my machine.

(a) is a suitable frame (of wood).

(b) is a hood, which serves the double purpose of preventing the escapeof the corn, and presenting a conducting trough to the ears. The top ofthe hood being sloping, the shake of the machine conveys the corn fromthe hood top into the shelling apparatus, which consists of a toothedcylinder (c) and concave (d, e) this concave at its upper part, forms ahopper or co-nducting chute (el) for the entering ears, and the otherpart (e) forms a semicylindrical range of bars forming a grating, whichserves the purpose both as a means of shelling the grains from the coband a screen to separate them from the latter. The concave is held byhorizontal springs and by vertical springs to a position sufficientlyeccentric with regard to the cylinder, to admit unshelled ears at itsforward side, and justl pass the shelled cobs at its rear side, thepressure of the escaping cobs, by acting in opposition to the springs,

serving'- to cause the concave to approach the cylinder upon the otherside and thus to bring the requisite abrasion upon the entering ears.Thus, not only has the concave, complete mobility in every directionnecessary to its proper action, but in case of an intractible sample ofcorn, being subjected to the o-peration of the machine, the cobs cannotescape unshelled, because in the effort so to do, the increase of thepressure on the opposite parts of the concave and cylinder causes agreater action on the cobs or ears at that part and thus this difcultyis made self remediable. The grains fall from the concave upon theconducting chute (f), and the cobs remaining behind, are rolled aroundbetween the cylinder and concave, until every grain is separated, andare discharged upon the screen (g) which in its turn deposits them uponthe screen (it). The screen (g) is placed obliquely, and consists ofrods or slats longitudinally arranged, and the screen (it) of slatstransversely arranged; the construction of the former faciliting thepassage of the cobs, and also the separation of the grain, and theconstruction of the latter screen serving to retain the cobssufficiently to insure the separation of all the corn, and itsconduction onto the screen which also receives grain from the chutebefore spoken of. The screen is of wire, and its meshes are of a sizewhich will pass the corn but will retain all the fragments of the huskor cob which may have escaped the upper screens. The particles detainedby the screen (i), and all the other lighter refuse are blown away fromthe corn by the fan The corn is received from the screen (i) on to thechute (m) which nally discharges it at the opening (Z) where a sack maybe placed for its reception.

VThe tension of the concave springs may be increased or diminished atdiscretion by nuts.

The screens may be assisted in their action by means of any shakingmechanism, such as that commonly applied to the separating apparatus ofwinn'owing machines.

The machine is throughout of great simplicity and compactness ofconstruction and its effectiveness is established by the fact that inthe course of a working day one thousand bushels of corn have beeneffectually shelled and cleaned. In the instance cited the cylinder was22 inches long and was driven by a single horse-but by lengthening thecylinder and adding proportionate power the effective act-ion may beincreased at pleasure.

Having thus fully described my improved corn sheller, what I claimtherein as newV and desire to secure by Letters Patent is Thecombination and arrangement of the sloping longitudinal slat screen g,and the transverse slat screen L, for the rapid and thorough separationof the corn from the cobs, as they are thrown from the concave by theshelling cylinder upon the said combined screens, substantially asherein set forth.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand before two subscribingwitnesses.

GEO. W. REID.

Witnesses:

GEO. I-I. KNIGHT, E. H. PUGH.

